How to Choose Shades of White Paint
09/26/2008 12:56 PM by Gretchen Schauffler
Here are some Devine Tips on Choosing White, Off-White and Shades of White Paint:
Light is a prism of the 7 colors of the rainbow. When light hits surfaces, the seven colors are absorbed or reflect. Whatever colors get bounced off the surface, those are the colors your eyes see. Your eyes are equipped to see a wide spectrum of absorption and reflection in thousands of variations. Some colors are easier to see than others. White is what you get when light reflects so strongly there is no absorption and all the colors bounce back—so all shades of white paint includes all the colors of the rainbow.
I designed Devine Color white shades of paint to mimic natural light reflections found in nature and in art. Artists use pure white (or titanium white) paint as the base to blend the right kind of white shade for color composition. That is what I’ve tried to do with our white paint. Here is a great analogy: I designed our whites as perfect tooth colors for different types of skin colors! Everyone knows when someone’s teeth are too white, too yellow, or too gray. So think of Devine Color ‘whites’ as the perfect tooth enamel shades for the face that is your furniture, art, and accessories.
Your canvas—in this case, your home—already has color! It has hardwood floors, wood furniture with orange, red, and purple tones, fireplaces with red, tan, or orange brick, slate or vinyl floors with blues, greens, browns, and then various fabrics, art, photos and so on. So choose the right white or off white paint colors from our already tried and true Devine shades of white to complement your belongings .
Devine Pique: our purest white is the most stark, striking titanium white. I recommend it to create high contrast like with trim, cabinets, or shelve color. Warning: Using it as a wall color could overpower everything else and make other shades of white in the room look dull. If you have lots of black, primary colors, dark chocolates, deep purples, cool grays, this white is the perfect contrast.
Devine Icing: Our clean white is the overall unifying white. I recommend this white paint for walls and/or trim. It has the right amount of warmth and will not look over-bleached against natural surfaces and wood. It is a natural fit with all other whites found in furniture, fabrics, and accessories.
Devine Whip: Our warm white is a soft white that perfectly complements the warmth of wood with a hint of cream. I recommend this white if you have lots of wood in your home along with lots of warm colors such as yellows, oranges, warm reds, and denim blues. Looks great as both wall and trim paint color.
Devine Vanilla: Our icy hot white has a hint of yellow that makes it crisp. I recommend this white for trim to go with bright greens, lime yellows, and bright yellows.
I would order Mini-Paint Pouches of Icing and Pique’ and test both of them in your home.
As far as the cost, we put our money where our mouth is. Our paint gives you a tremendous bang for your buck. It goes on with one coat in most cases. But the really great thing is that the one coat is strong and beautiful. Priced accordingly with other high quality premium paints, think of Devine as a high-tread count sheet—solid, rich color that lasts forever on your wall.
Our paint has unique paint sheens in the market for a reason. We believe that light is color and we created paint finishes to reflect our white paint colors perfectly. No other paint line was created this way. See our blog article HOW LIGHT CHANGES COLOR. This is where you can decide what paint finish you want on your wall.
As far as a trim finish, IF YOU CAN WAIT FOR OUR NEW SMOOTH GLOSS TRIM FINISH, YOU SHOULD! It is low VOC and it brushes, rolls, and sprays on like glass! It is the first water-based product that behaves as beautifully as oil paint and it comes out this October.
READ: ADDING WHITE TO LIGHTEN A COLOR
| Textile Help | ||
How to Use Neutral Paint Colors
Adding White to Lighten a Color
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want a nice red with white ceiling and white ceiling beams and one wall with stairway and dark stained pecky cyprus wall.don’t want a burgandy brown red as sugested, idea?
— diane parish 10/08/2008 07:50 PM #
Diane:
Try Devine Bon Vivant™, Devine Saffron™ and devinegreen: Toucan™. Our truer reds are red without screaming bloody murder, fire engine coming, or STOP! Every Devine color sinks into walls instead of looking like a coat on the surface because of our paint finishes. This will help you welcome your perfect red to the party!
— gretchen Schauffler 10/09/2008 09:50 AM #
What color white should be used for beadboard in a bathroom that has mostly white porcelin tile, but bright white sink? The paint will be Juniper. Do you now have the new glossy paint? Thanks.
— Nancy 11/12/2008 12:32 PM #
Hi Nancy:
It was a pleasure to talk to you yesterday about your white dilemma. Remember, whites do blend well as long as you do not mix gray whites with yellow whites. In your case Devine Icing is the perfect “white” to landscape all the others in the room. Remember, the white in the sink is there to look clean, functional but not natural. As trim or wall color, it would look like a blinding smile, the kind you think…ooops, went too far with the bleaching! lol.
— gretchen Schauffler 11/13/2008 11:14 AM #
Hi,I am looking for white with a hint of red to match white with hint of spearmint – could you let me know if these colours would (a) bright a room. (b)and would they match with dark wood fire place & light varnished floor? thanks for your help. Also could you advise me where I could purchase these “hints of colours paints”.
— VALERIE 11/21/2008 09:17 AM #
Valerie:
A white with a hint of red is pink. If you lighten red, it’s not a light red, but a shade of pink. Pink could be “fleshy”. I recommend Devine Whip or Icing as your white with hints of yellow like in your “wood”. DId you get to read How to lighten a dark room with light colors?
You can connect to our E-store and order the color tools and paint online or find a Devine Color stockist in your area.
— gretchen Schauffler 11/21/2008 02:35 PM #
Hi! I have many dark colors in different rooms. I have white woodwork, white crown molding…. I am thinking of painting the entry, hallway, and stairwell white but the painter doesn’t like this idea. He is recommending color because I have so much of it elsewhere. I like the idea of a white entry, but I may “lose” the crown molding. Any suggestions?
— Monica Murphy 12/02/2008 06:03 PM #
Monica:
Great wall color palettes can be achieved with different color proportions and different color combinations…the question is how much “white” do you have in your other rooms to justify the white entry? Will the white entry announce the rest of all the colors in the home? We have the perfect whites, but is white the perfect color in the entry because of all the white through out the home? Let me know :)
— gretchen Schauffler 12/03/2008 01:17 PM #
I love Devine Paints. My last house was painted entirely with Devine. I have now since moved into a condo and am slowly repainting all the generic white walls. My living/dining/kitchen room has two walls painted in Roast and the other two walls are in Medallion. The bathroom is Toucan and (per your suggestion) I painted the ceiling Persian. It is so rich and yummy. Now I am on to the laundry room (off the kitchen). Since the water heater and washer/dryer are in place I have to leave one wall the contractor’s off white. What would you suggest to paint the other three walls. One of the three walls is visible from the kitchen. I always leave the laundry room door open so I want to make this room as nice as possible. The walls surrounding the laundry room door are in medallion.
Thanks for your help.
— DJ 12/29/2008 11:32 AM #
Hi DJ:
Since the laundry room door is always open, do the 3 walls in Medallion and make the kitchen space visual “bigger” by making the laundry room look like an extra “appliance room”. It is a great way to connect 2 high function working spaces…Jazz it up with prints and you’re good to go. If you want, you can also try doing Devine Roast. Send us pictures!!
— gretchen Schauffler 12/29/2008 03:12 PM #
Working with a dining room that i am converting to a parlor. The furniture is darkish brown wood, 2 brick red leather chairs and matching small ottamans, and a dark brown leather-velvet-like love seat. My pictures have antique large gold frames and dark brown wood frames. Looking for a color that will warm up the room, keep it open feeling, and a color that I can put on the living room that is adjacent. The living room contains sage green and dark brown furniture and area rug. There also is a coffee table that is sort of a light mustard yellow color. Its an older house so I will also need another color for all the window and baseboard and doorway moldings. Was thinking of matching the ceiling color to the molding color.
I will most likely add an area rug to the parlor that will have the brick red/brown/and gold coloring in it to help the room out as i have a very light beige carpet.
Thank you so much for your help.
Jessica
— Jessica 01/05/2009 08:51 PM #